April Terry is on vacation for the next few weeks, so I’m filling in for her on Mondays until she gets back.  Here’s my first offering:

A Review, by Randy Siever

Straight up, if you work with or are curious about 16-19 year olds; if you read David Kinnaman’s book “UnChristian” and were intrigued by what you read; if you care about the future of the Church in America…you need to go get this book/dvd combo and spend a little time with it.  You can learn more in a couple of hours with this material than you would get in an entire year of coursework and reading other stuff.  I’m not kidding.

I’ll also admit up front that these three authors (four, if you count David Kinnaman, who wrote the introduction and whose book inspired this one) are dear friends of mine, and for the past few years, co-laborers at a number of speaking events around the country.  In fact, I was part of the speaking lineup at all four of the events where these interviews were held.  However, I probably wouldn’t have bought the book and read it or watched the dvd had Craig not sent me a free copy.  I mean, I was there.  I heard all the interviews live.  I have read everything Jim and Todd have written, and heard them speak dozens of times in various venues.  I have a stack of books I have to get read already sitting on my shelf. I didn’t need to read or watch this stuff again.

But of course, I did (a free copy is hard to not crack open).  It was like a whole new experience for me, thanks to the amazing work of Craig Spinks on the video piece.  The book portion was a quick read, mostly narrative and dialogue between my three amigos as they processed these interviews and reflected on what they heard.  This is sort of interesting if you like knowing how these guys work and play, but frankly I found some of it a little tedious and overworked at times (sorry fellas).  There are some really great nuggets from each of them, but this book isn’t their best work, in my opinion.  Craig’s part of the text was, of course, fresh (he’s a new author) and surprisingly vulnerable, in particular his chapter on his relationship with his dad.  And there were some interesting insights offered by all three authors on the interviews, sort of postscript-style. But overall the book part was about a B- for me.  You may like it far better, of course.

The DVD (produced by Craig Spinks) was worth the price of admission, however.  Beautifully filmed and edited, each segment was filled with nuggets of insight and moments of inspiration.  There are four separate panel interviews in four cities (Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, and Kansas City) in four different churches.  The interviews were staged like a television show (think Oprah or Dr. Phil), hosted by Jim and Todd in each case.  Of the four “outsiders” (a term borrowed from David Kinnaman’s book) at each venue, two were Christians and two were not.  You would be hard pressed without inside information to tell which were which in most cases, because they ALL felt like outsiders when it came to church.  So you get 16 outsiders, all in their 20’s, sharing what their experience of church and Christianity in general has been like, all on one DVD. It’s honest.  It’s real. It’s painful at times.  And it’s message is stunning in it’s consistency, no matter what city the interview is in.

Craig also spent a lot of time filming each participant after the panel interview to find more of their back story. Snippets of these were interspersed throughout each group interview to give us more insight into their comments, but then Craig used this additional footage to compile what can only be described as “special features” menu under each city’s interview segment, offering backstage commentary from each participant on various topics. These are short and fascinating and intensely personal glimpses into the lives of the outsiders.

There were a ton of “moments” for me in this.  As I said, watching this on DVD, in the way Craig put it all together, was like an entirely new experience for me.  I heard things and noticed things I didn’t remember from when I was actually there.  Maybe it’s because of the way it’s organized.  And, of course, I was not privy to all the individual interviews, so those pieces really added color and meaning to each person, and offered, for me at least, a few very touching and moving moments.

I could tell you what I gleaned from these interviews, but I think it would wreck the experience for you.  Read the book.  Watch the DVD.  It doesn’t matter which you do first, by the way (Henderson likes to say, “Watch the book.”).  But don’t ignore the incredible gift this work offers to those who care about the future of the Church in America.

It only requires that we watch and listen…carefully.  What you do with it once you hear is up to you, but it could change your whole map for the future.